LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Republic Services to Get Most of the 10-Year Garbage Franchise Recycling still pending


Pacific Rim currently recycles for Lamorinda Picture provided

At the Feb. 27 Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority board meeting, Republic Services was chosen over Mt. Diablo-Recology as the next franchisee to haul all of the garbage within the CCCSWA service area (including Lamorinda) for the next 10 years. Republic was cleared by an independent consultant of allegations by California Compost Coalition that it had not been recycling the green waste according to their current contract. These allegations had blocked the decision in January.

Pacific Rim, the staff's choice for recycling, came under scrutiny at the February meeting when Dana Dean of the Law Offices of Dana Dean, which represents Evan Edgar and Total Compliance Management, stated that the company may not have enough capacity to treat the volume of recyclables and does not have the proper permits to fulfill the contract. Mt. Diablo also sent CCCSWA a last minute proposal for the recycling contract and the board decided to postpone its decision for that piece of the garbage pie for another month.

"It was three minutes before 5 p.m. the day before the board meeting when we received a new proposal from Mt. Diablo to handle the recyclable waste," said CCCSWA director Paul Morsen, who explained that the RFP process had called for proposals, that service companies had been interviewed and asked to give their best offer by a certain date, and that staff and its consultant had then analyzed the proposals before making a recommendation to the board. Pacific Rim was the recommended offer. Morsen included the last minute offer in the board documents, although no analysis had been possible.

The next morning, Contra Costa County supervisor Karen Mitchoff, a CCCSWA board member, made a motion to award the contract to Mt. Diablo-Recology. Board member Ken Chew from the Moraga Town Council asked the CCSWA's lawyer if such a last minute offer was permitted and the answer was yes, since this was not a closed bid process. Board members Victoria Smith and Amy Worth from the Orinda City Council said they supported renegotiating that part of the contract in order to get the best deal for residents. Three board members were opposed to renegotiation; Moraga's David Trotter said that the process should not encourage bidding at the podium, and that Mt. Diablo's offer was too little, too late.

The rate per ton of recycled material that Mt. Diablo-Recology proposes in this new offer matches that of Pacific Rim, at $47 a ton. Pacific Rim is the recycling service provider at this time. Under the present contract they pay a fixed fee per ton and as the commodity market fluctuates, the company shares the extra revenue with CCCSWA. "The price has been quite good in the past," said Morsen, "but we wanted the different proposals to indicate a fixed rate so we could compare them. During final negotiation the board has the latitude to change that."

The CCSWA board voted 8 to 3 to re-open the RFP process for that part of the franchise agreement. Staff will make a recommendation at the next board meeting on March 27.